The Royal Mint has published its latest annual report for the year ended 31 March 2024, noting total revenue of £1.4 billion – a 28% reduction from the previous year. In its report, the Mint noted that it had experienced challenges during the year, but it also emphasised the continuation of its five-year diversification strategy.

A few recent personnel updates from The Royal Mint, Royal Dutch Mint, MKS PAMP, and Schuler.

In June, the Mint Director’s Association held a webinar focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool and how it can be implemented to improve productivity. Titled ‘The Future is Here: How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Modern Minting’, the webinar was hosted by Aditya Berlia – an entrepreneur, educator, and AI advocate – and sponsored by Carveco.

Uganda has become the latest African nation to look to gold as support for its currency, as the Bank of Uganda initiates a Domestic Gold Purchase Program with the objectives of building the country’s foreign reserves and minimising risks on reserves investments.

No orders for new coins intended for general circulation have been sent by the Treasury to The Royal Mint this year, in what is believed to be a historic first. The Royal Mint issued just shy of 16 million coins last year, in comparison to the 162 million issued in 2022-23.

Precious metal producer and supplier Heimerle + Meule Group has announced its rebranding to HM Precious Metals, with immediate effect. The rebranding has occurred in the course of the Group’s ongoing internationalisation and, it says, is an adaptation of the company’s name to optimise it for worldwide use.

AI is an inevitable evolution in many aspects of the minting business. At its core, it automates repetitive tasks, making it a powerful tool for numerous applications within a modern mint.

Many central banks continue to issue their annual reports for 2023 as the year progresses – including the Central Bank of Ireland (Banc Ceannais na hÉireann) and Reserve Bank of India.

The next edition of the Directory of Circulating Coins is currently being compiled, and is scheduled for publication this Autumn. First developed by the publishers of Currency News in 2014, the upcoming issue will be the fourth edition published.

The high-level programme and award categories for the next edition of The Coin Conference have been announced, with the event scheduled to take place 28-30 October in Lisbon, Portugal.

The tagline for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Annual Report 2023 – ‘Anchoring Stability and Sustainable Growth amid Challenging Times’ – takes note of the inflationary challenges and other pressures that the Philippines faced last year.

The Royal Mint has signed an exclusive distribution deal with RARCOA to grow its commemorative coin business in the US, and which is projected to turnover £100 million over the next three years.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of 'D-Day' and several European mints have produced coins to commemorate the occasion – amongst them The Royal Mint, Monnaie de Paris, and the Royal Dutch Mint.

In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the Central Bank of the Bahamas has issued a painted version of the country’s 25 cent coin into circulation. The coin is the first painted circulation coin issued by the central bank, and the first circulation coin in the world to feature colour on both sides.

Earlier this month, Banco de Moçambique began issuing a new currency series, which includes an updated set of circulation coins. The previous nine coin denominations have been reduced to seven, with the 20 and 5 cent coins discontinued.

Researchers at the Centre for Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada have utilised image-mining techniques and machine learning algorithms to identify flaws in counterfeit coins, enabling greater detection of fakes.

The Royal Canadian Mint has published its annual report for 2023, noting a fall in revenue of 34% to C$2.162 billion and a reduction in profit by 52% to C$16.6 million. It has, however, noted a good start to the financial year despite decreased consolidated revenue.

The Coin Workshop started this year’s Banknote Conference – which took place in Fort Worth, Texas from 13-16 May – with a mix of data, storytelling, and discussion.

Beside cashless payments, coins are still a part of modern life. Minting, circulating and recirculating of coins remains a great responsibility for mints and central banks. Depending on the quality of the coin, the lifespan of hard cash can be 10 years or more.

Coin collecting platform Coiniverse enabled purchasing ability on its mobile application at the end of March, following this with an announcement that the first coins sold out within 72 hours.